Stoeger Customer Service

I recently picked up a Stoeger Coach Gun that had been abused and led a hard life.  The stock had been cut off to make a pistol grip out of it, and the gun had ridden around behind the seat of a ranch truck down here in Texas. No telling how many snakes were killed with it.

It's the satin nickel version with walnut stocks. Looked like this one when it was new.


When I got it, it was in pretty sad shape.  Very little finish left on the wood, the forearm rattled around on the barrels, and there were a few significant marks in the finish. The action was extremely stiff and very hard to open.

My plan was to find a stock on EBAY and get to work restoring this thing.  I watched for a few weeks and nothing showed up on EBAY, so I called Stoeger.  They wouldn't sell me a stock, said it had to be fitted to the gun. I decided to go ahead and send it in, surely it wouldn't cost all that much for a new stock.

I got it back today, with a brand new walnut buttstock and forearm.  The metal wasn't refinished, it still has some character marks, but they polished it up and it looks pretty decent.  They also worked on the action and it pops open just like my Browning side by side now.

You can see the two marks on the barrels, one about the end of the forearm, the other about halfway from the chamber to the other mark.



The charge for all this ... nada.  Stoeger is part of Benelli, which I believe is part of Beretta. And a company with excellent customer service.

Colorado Fall 2011

Colorado in the fall on Two Wheels

I had been waiting for this Colorado trip like a kid waiting for Santa Claus!  The day finally came to head out and I was more than ready. I rode from my home near Fort Worth up to Wichita, I was able to see my brother and his family before heading for Colorado Sunday morning.

Sunday - I woke up early to the sound of a thunderstorm, with some small hail!  Not a good sign.  But it passed quickly and we were able to leave at about 7:30.  We got about 30 miles up the road and Alice discovered that she had left her cell phone at home.  She made a mad dash back to Wichita to get it, while I had breakfast in McPherson, KS. We got back on the road and about the only thing notable about Sunday's ride was that we rode on wet roads for over 200 miles without ever getting rained on.

We got to Colorado Springs about 5:30 and our other friend, Gary, rolled in about 6:00. We ate supper at the Back East Bar & Grill, highly recommended.

Monday - It was chilly early, so we waited until 8:30 to head out.  Had a fantastic breakfast at the Hungry Bear Woodland Park.

Gary and Alice are ready to head farther up into the mountains

We rode west on Hwy 24, then north on Hwy 9 to Fairplay. North of Fairplay we crossed our first high elevation pass, Hoosier Pass.  There would be many more.

Hoosier Pass

 Gary and his Ultra Limited, Alice and her Ultra, and my Electra Glide in the back

Yours truly

After Hoosier Pass we rode through Breckenridge, Frisco and took a quick hop on I-70 over to Hwy 91.  It was a bad day to hit Hwy 91, three separate waits for flagmen and one lane roads due to road construction.  They say there are two seasons in the mountains, Winter and Construction.

We finally got to Leadville and had lunch at the Silver Dollar Saloon. Did I mention that the weather was gorgeous?  Absolutely perfect our whole time in Colorado.

A look down Leadville's historic main street

After lunch we rode south and took Hwy 82 towards Aspen. 

 Made a quick stop for pics at Twin Lakes. What a gorgeous place!

 Soon we were headed up Independence Pass.

Breathtaking scenery. Gary said this was what flying a helicopter looks like.

Three good looking Harleys at 12,000 feet

We came down off the pass into Aspen, where we were glad to find a gas station, even if they did rob us with gas that was almost a dollar higher than anywhere else on the trip.

 When we got to Carbondale we turned south on Hwy 133 along the Crystal River.

Our destination was the Hotchkiss Inn, where else, in Hotchkiss, Colorado.

Gary likes Colorado, this was his first time in the Colorado mountains.

The Hotchkiss Inn was very nice, with a fire pit and a horseshoe pit. There is a great little family restaurant across the street, plus a grocery store and a liquor store. What else could you possibly need?

All in all, a perfect day of riding.

Tuesday - After another excellent breakfast at the Home Town Cafe across the road from the Hotchkiss Inn, we headed out on Hwy 92 to ride along the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.  Another spectacular place in Colorado, this one is actually a National Park.

 

One of those places that makes you feel like a bug crawling across the world.

Gary and Alice like the Black Canyon.

More breath taking scenery

A long way down to the water

After some great riding on Hwy 92, we came to US 50 and rode it along Blue Mesa resevoir until we turned south toward Lake City on Hwy 149.

I had to swipe a pic off the web, but it's impossible to do justice to the beautiful Blue Mesa Reservoir

We had lunch at the Packer Saloon and Cannibal Grill in Lake City.  Lots of great little places in cool little towns in Colorado.

 Next stop, the Headwaters of the Rio Grande.  I told Gary he could throw in an inner tube and ride it all the way home to El Paso.  Might get there by Christmas, maybe.

We continued on Hwy 149, the Silver Thread Highway, thru Creede and into South Fork on Hwy 50.  Took a right on Hwy 50 and started over Wolf Creek Pass.  Does anyone remember this old song about Wolf Creek Pass?

 Made a quick stop at Treasure Falls between Wolf Creek Pass and Pagosa Springs.

There are those three Harleys again

Durango was tonight's destination and we stayed at the Caboose Motel, another nice little "mom and pop" place, my kinda place.

 Gary, cleaning off the days bugs at the Caboose Motel

We rode the trolley downtown and had supper at the Irish Embassy Pub, if you go, the fish and chips are great.

Wednesday - Today we ride the Million Dollar Highway, aka Hwy 550.

More of that beautiful Colorado scenery.

 Another 10,000+ foot pass ... one of many

The view atop Molas Pass

 The San Juan Mountains

 Next stop, Ouray

 America The Beautiful

Ouray, Colorado

We stopped for a bowl of chili at the True Grit Cafe in Ridgeway, where we decided to deviate from the plan a bit and head over into Utah, since Gary had never been there.

So we hit the road toward Moab, Utah

We saw this monster bull elk that a Utah hunter had taken near Moab

Moab motels are full this time of year, even on a Wednesday night, who knew?  But we had a friendly motel owner make a few calls and find us a couple of rooms at the Silver Sage Inn.  The place looks like a morton building, but was nice and clean.

We rode a little ways out of town on Hwy 279 and saw the Indian Petroglyphs.  There is more info here if you're interested.

While we were there I took some of the best pics I've ever taken of the Moab scenery along the Colorado river.  Believe it or not, I took all of these from the same place, in about 10 seconds.

My GPS had quit on me, and my memory isn't what it used to be, so I led us off down the wrong road looking for Dead Horse Point.  When we came to the end of the blacktop on Hwy 279 Gary punched up Dead Horse Point on his GPS and we took off, with barely enough time to get there before sunset. But we got there ... I have no doubt that if this place was in any other state than Utah, it would be a National Park. 

Alice and Gary at Dead Horse Point

I made this short video of Dead Horse Point

Rode back to Moab in the dark, had dinner at the Moab Brewery. They have an 18oz margarita made with "silver whiskey" that is goooooood!

Thursday - Back to Colorado, it was a bit warm in Utah and we decided to head straight back to Colorado this morning. Rode Hwy 191 down to Monticello, then Hwy 491 over to Dolores, CO where we picked up Hwy 145.  And my GPS decided to start working again, and worked fine the rest of the trip.

We passed this place, but didn't stop, maybe we should have.

Hwy 145 was another great ride, the weather and scenery were perfect along the Dolores river. We stopped in Rico and picked up sandwiches for a picnic lunch a little farther up the road.

 We stopped for lunch at the summit of Lizard Head pass

 

 

 Next stop, Trout Lake

 Those three Harleys again

I almost reached scenery overload up there, but that quickly faded as we rode into Montrose.  When did Montrose get so big and so crowded?

We headed east on Hwy 50 and turned south on Hwy 114 toward Saguache. I had never ridden this road before and it has some nice sections, mainly the part near Hwy 50.

A very nice campsite along another beautiful Colorado river, on Hwy 114.

 Another 10,000 foot pass

We considered staying in Saguache, but there was only one motel and ....

Gary says we aren't staying here.

Alice isn't staying here either

So we rode north to Salida, where we found our new favorite hotel n Colorado, the Silver Ridge Lodge. Another very nice mom & pop motel, the owner rides a Harley and it's walking distance to the Country Bounty Restaurant where we had a great breakfast the next morning.

I didn't get any pics, but we had another great meal (steak tips for me) at the Wallbangers Sports Bar in Salida.

Friday - Alice decided that she needed to head home, so we split up in Salida and she headed back to Kansas.  Gary and I rode south toward La Manga pass and Chama, New Mexico.  Only one of my pics in Chama turned out.

A steam engine of the Cumbres & Toltec Railroad

Gary and I had lunch at the Foster's Saloon in Chama, then Gary headed south toward El Paso while I headed southeast toward Fort Worth.  I stopped in Amarillo for the night then rode on home today.  

This was one of my best motorcycle trips ever, perfect weather, beautiful scenery, fantastic riding, and great friends. 3265 miles in eight days. What more can you ask for?